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South Carolina gets breather after upset

Sep 15, 2007 - 11:50 AM South Carolina St (1-1) at No. 17 South Carolina (2-0), 7:00 pm EDT

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Ticker) - South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier may be a little less intense on the sidelines this weekend.

After an upset victory, Spurrier's 17th-ranked Gamecocks step out of Southeastern Conference play to host South Carolina State of the Football Championship Subdivision on Saturday.

Last Saturday, the Gamecocks posted a 16-12 road upset of then-No. 11 Georgia in their SEC opener.

Ryan Succop converted all three of his field-goal attempts for South Carolina, which held on for the victory when Jasper Brinkley intercepted Matthew Stafford at the Gamecocks' 15 with six seconds left.

Cory Boyd had a nine-yard scoring run in the first quarter - the game's only touchdown - for the Gamecocks South Carolina welcomed back suspended quarterback Blake Mitchell, who completed 20-of-31 passes for 174 yards.

South Carolina State rebounded from a 34-3 season-opening loss at Air Force with a 24-13 triumph at fellow FCS school Bethune-Cookman last week.

Cleveland McCoy passed for just 88 yards but had a pair of TD tosses for the Bulldogs, who were opening Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play.

The teams never have met before.

"It's sort of amazing that (South Carolina State) has been playing football for 100 years and we've been playing about 114 years and it's the first time the schools have ever met," Spurrier said. "It should be an exciting evening. They're a good team, I think they were picked to win their conference, so it should be a heck of a game."